Peter Jackson's Perforated Ulcer Will Delay The Hobbit, and 6 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

peter_jackson_hobbit.jpgAlso in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: An Oscar nominee might climb aboard The Dark Tower... Snow White and The Huntsman circles Snow White, Huntsman... Tiger Mom goes Hollywood... and more ahead.

· Apologies to Mayans, voodoo priestesses and that scary old lady in Drag Me to Hell, but doesn't it seem like The Hobbit is cursed? From the MGM fiasco to the Guillermo del Toro drop out to a vicious labor dispute to burning sets, the Peter Jackson film has had a black cloud above its tiny head for quite some time. Now there's this: Filming will be slightly delayed because Jackson had surgery to fix a perforated ulcer. Did Elijah Wood break a mirror on the last day of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King? What gives? [Deadline]

· Speaking of long rumored epics, The Dark Tower is still happening. It's true! And apparently Ron Howard and Universal have set their sights on a leading man: Javier Bardem. If signed, the Oscar nominee would play gunslinger Roland Deschain in the mammoth adaptation of the Stephen King series, which is set to include three films and a television series. [Deadline]

· More casting rumors! Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen are apparently being sought to play the leads in Snow White and The Huntsman, a "retelling" of the Brothers Grimm fairly tale that focuses on the relationship between Snow White and The Hunstman. (I know.) Michael Fassbender was originally rumored for the Mortensen role, but passed to star in... [THR, Deadline]

· ... Prometheus! The Ridley Scott Alien prequel that isn't an Alien prequel -- which stars Noomi Rapace -- will hit theaters on June 8, 2012. [THR/Heat Vision]

· Writer Ron Bass (The Joy Luck Club, Rain Man) is thinking of bringing Amy Chau's controversial Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom to the big screen. "I was tempted to say, 'Nah, there's nothing here,'" Bass told THR. "And then I was going to have my agent find out if the rights were available. Not only is there a movie here, I definitely think it's more than one movie." Good, because you know what Tiger Moms say: "For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It's hours two and three that get tough." [THR]

· In case you've been under a rock for the past 12 hours: Will Ferrell will appear The Office this spring. The plan is to have him bridge the gap between the departure of Steve Carell and the next season. [Deadline]

· There is an Owen Wilson look-alike committing coupon fraud in Los Angeles. That is all. [Patch/Oak Park]



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